The Boston Bruins’ penalty kill has been on a roll — having blanked the oppositions’ power plays over each of the last five games heading into today’s showdown with Buffalo at the TD Banknorth Garden.

The kill is a perfect 20-for-20 over that stretch. But the killers aren’t just getting the job done in their own zone, they’re also putting the heat on with offensive pressure. In the last two weeks Blake Wheeler and Martin St. Pierre have netted shorthanded goals for the Bruins. And Wheeler and David Krejci have formed a dangerous duo that clears the zone with ease and then can make things happen at the other end.

“It’s trying to find ice time sometimes for players, and putting them in positions again that they can help your hockey club,” head coach Claude Julien recently said about Krejci and Wheeler getting time on the PK. “And they’ve just seemed to build pretty good chemistry where they do a pretty good job of killing penalties. But they’re also, every game so far lately, they’ve been a threat 4-on-5. They get the puck out and they get some scoring chances as well.”

Although it ranks just 11th overall in the NHL on the season, the Buffalo power play comes into today’s game at TD Banknorth Garden on a bit of a roll and will provide a stiff test for Boston’s red-hot penalty kill.

The Sabres have scored a power-play goal in seven straight games and are 9-for-30 over that stretch. Of course, Buffalo hasn’t always turned a hot power play into W’s, as the Sabres are also just 3-2-2 over that time. (more…)

The Buffalo Sabres, the Boston Bruins’ opponent for a Garden matinee Saturday, have been flip flopping with Carolina in the eighth and ninth spots in the Eastern Conference for the better part of the last two weeks.

But that doesn’t mean that they’re any less dangerous than they were earlier in the season when many had them pegged as Northeast Division title contenders and even handed the Bruins a shootout loss in October.

“Obviously, they’re fighting for a playoff spot,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said after practice at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington today. “They’re right in there in the mix. They’ve played us pretty well this year so far. And they’re a team that makes it hard for you to break out of your own end; they’re very aggressive. They’ll pinch the walls. So anything you want to do along the walls, you’re going to be in a battle. … I think they’re probably a team right now that feels – and rightfully so – that they should in a higher mix than the bottom spots. But as some point they’re going to find their groove and you just hope it’s not against your team.”

Serving as one half of an NHL-dominating goaltending duo is nothing new to Boston Bruins netminder Manny Fernandez.

Back in the 2002-03 season, Fernandez combined with Dwayne Roloson to carry the Minnesota Wild all the way to the Western Conference finals. Fernandez appeared in 35 regular-season games to Roloson’s 50 and Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire nearly split the postseason games evenly — with Fernandez getting nine and Roloson 11.

Now Fernandez and Tim Thomas are the best goaltending tandem in the league –with Fernandez just ahead of Thomas for second place in the goals-against average rankings (2.02 to 2.04) and Thomas slightly ahead of Fernandez for third in save percentage (.935 to .930). With just an occassional alteration to his pattern, Bruins head coach Claude Julien, whose team rides a 10-game winning streak into Saturday’s tilt with Buffalo, has stuck to a straight rotation. And that’s made it easier for Fernandez to find his groove. (more…)

Boston Bruins winger Blake Wheeler was among the contenders for the NHL Rookie of the Month award for December, but Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason ran away with it, it was announced by the league today.

Mason in December was just 7-5-0, but he posted a .950 save percentage and miniscule 1.41 goals-against average. He also recorded three shutouts.

Last month Wheeler tallied five goals and six assists for 11 points in 13 games. Other players who were in the running were St. Louis’ Patrik Berglund, Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan, Florida’s Michael Frolik and Chicago’s Kris Versteeg.

WILMINGTON — For the first time since he departed the line-up with a broke foot suffered Nov. 13 against Montreal, Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference went through a full practice with the club today at Ristuccia Arena.

“I did stuff in the zone and defensive stuff,” Ference said, “now it’s just getting my timing and speed up and getting my hands to respond quicker.”

Ference said he’ll continue to practice hard through the weekend, go through a “tough day” at the Wives Carnival Sunday (obviously tongue in cheek) and then see where he stands. While there’s no specific date set for his return, he said it’s just a matter of finding the game that’s right for him and the team, which is playing so well and winner of 10 straight.

•Out of the line-up for the last nine games with an upper-body injury but not forgotten is forward Petteri Nokelainen, who also went through the full practice and took some contact during the 1-on-1 and 3-on-3 drills.

“A couple times,” Nokelainen said about the hits. “And it feels good. No setbacks.”

Head coach Claude Julien called both Ference and Nokelainen “doubtful” for tomorrow’s match-up with Buffalo but he wouldn’t rule out either one.

Well, the Boston Bruins’ next opponent, the Buffalo Sabres, answered their head coaches’ calls for a better performance throughout the line-up in a 4-1 win at Toronto last night, as Mike Harrington describes in the Buffalo News. Derek Roy and Jason Pominville, two of the forwards Ruff was calling out over the last week, responded particularly well.

Harrington also getsJochen Hecht’s take on his partial benching last night. Hecht didn’t play until late in the first period.

MK: Is this the turnaround of the Sabres or just a blip on their toward sinking? A date with the first-place Sabres could answer that question tomorrow.

BOSTON — The final stats sheet showed Boston Bruins goaltender Manny Fernandez with 30 saves on 32 shots and a win — his fifth straight victory and 13th in his last 15 outings — in the Bruins’ 4-2 triumph over Pittsburgh tonight.

Fernandez is now also 9-0-0 at TD Banknorth Garden.

But despite the solid numbers and some of the game-saving saves he produced (including a big stop of a ferocious one-timer by sniper Evgeni Malkin), Fernandez was quick to deflect any praise for helping the Bruins pull of their 10th straight win.

“Tonight might’ve been my worst game,” he admitted. “I was just battling from the start. And that’s just to let you know how well we play defensively against what I think is one of the best teams in the NHL.”

BOSTON — Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien has stressed time and again that the line switches he made prior to Tuesday night’s game were not to single any one player out but to shake up all six skaters.

But a glance at the stats sheet easily revealed that the one third of the Bruins top line that wasn’t producing was left winger Milan Lucic. Lucic failed to fire a shot on net in Carolina and Atlanta, and including his switch to the line centered by Stephane Yelle and completed by Chuck Kobasew Tuesday, he entered tonight’s game with just one goal in his last eight.

In a 4-2 win over Pittsburgh at TD Banknorth Garden tonight — the Bruins’ 10th straight win — Lucic potted the game-winner by burying a loose puck that bounced off Yelle a little past the midway point of the second period. The goal was a result of that trio doing what it does best, and that’s using its strength and grit. (more…)

The Boston Bruins extended their winning streak to 10 games — the longest in the NHL this year — with a triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins in front of fourth straight sellout crowd at TD Banknorth Garden.

No. 1: No one could’ve predicted this — not anyone in the Boston Bruins’ front office, coaches’ office, locker room or in the national hockey punditry.

After reaching the playoffs for the first time in four years and making the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens sweat through seven games last spring, the Boston Bruins were probably going to contend for at least a home-ice spot this season. But no one — no one — had them getting off to the type of dominating start they’ve begun the 2008-09 season with.

Head coach Claude Julien’s Bruins’ 28-5-4 start to open this season might be the biggest story in the entire NHL right now — so it has to top the list of Top 10 Bruins stories of ’08. (more…)

BOSTON — His team is 1-1-0 vs. the Boston Bruins going into tonight’s rematch at the TD Banknorth Garden, so Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Michel Therrien has seen enough of the Black and Gold to assess why they’ve been succeeding.

Today he was asked after his club’s morning skate if Boston is the best team the Pens have faced, and Therrien answered in the affirmative as far as the Eastern Conference. And then he explained what he thinks makes the Bruins tick.

“They’ve got a good team concept. And they play their system really well,” Therrien said. “And they’ve got skill and they’ve got speed. You need speed to compete with that team. They’ve got a lot of speed and speed brings a lot. Speed brings scoring chances, they’re always first on the puck … they draw penalties. They’ve got a lot of speed, a lot of skill, they’re a good team.”

After the Boston Bruins finish their home-and-home series with Pittsburgh, they can switch their attention to the Buffalo Sabres, who’ll be at TD Banknorth Garden for a matinee Saturday.

The Sabres are sliding with just two wins in their last seven games (2-3-2) heading into their game tonight in Toronto. In the Buffalo News today John Vogl tells us that the Sabres players are trying to make one another accountable. Star goaltender Ryan Miller even used the term “constructive criticism” after a game the other night.

Yesterday, Vogl had head coach Lindy Ruff calling on the Sabres’ veteran centers, namely Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht, to pick up their games are get ready for a seat in the press box.

MK: The Sabres could be in shambles within the next week or so. Along with Ottawa, that would give the Bruins two patsies in their division to pluck away easy points from.

BOSTON — The Winter Classic seems to be becoming an annual rite in the NHL. Today the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks tangled at Wrigley Field one year after Pittsburgh and Buffalo squared off at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y.

For most NHL players, an outdoor game brings back memories of their youth hockey days — getting out on the ponds and public rinks as often as they could. Bruins center Marc Savard even found a way to make some money off outdoor hockey when he was around 12 or 13. (more…)

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins went through their first morning skate of 2009 at TD Banknorth Garden just a couple hours ago. And the lines they skated were the same as the ones that beat tonight’s opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on the road Tuesday night.

The alignment included the swap of left wings head coach Claude Julien made with P.J. Axelsson joining center Marc Savard and right winger Phil Kessel, and Milan Lucic hopping on the line with Stephane Yelle and Chuck Kobasew.

Savard responded with a three-point night and Axelsson notched a couple assists. (more…)